Whenever I see a Friday with lots of black squares I know there is a visual aspect to solution, in this case the visual is revealed both by circles (if you do not have them, the 'theme' is virtually impossible to find) and by 55A. Appears ... and the contents of this puzzle's circles? : SHOWS UP (7). Words like BACK, UP and DOWN in a reveal let you know direction. This is a return trip for John, who. spoke with CC in 2012 . This layout has many short words, but quite a bit of longer fill like ATE DIRT, CHOLERA, ESKIMOS, ETHICAL, GULF WAR, NEMESES, PATRONS, PEACHES, PRIOR TO, SHOWS UP, TOO LATE. I am confused as to whether we were supposed to give up using the word Eskimo, but the rest are fun.
I will treat the hiding places for the theme, as the theme answers.
2D. Bit of deception : HOCUS POCUS(10). Which is basically a self-referential clue then. Reading from the bottom up, we see COPS revealed. This show launched Spike TV. Nicely juxtaposed with the Police.
8D. Realization often preceded by "Whew!" : IT WAS ALL A DREAM (14). I would bet this was the seed entry, and Mr. Farmer, while creating one of his more common themeless puzzles, noticed that DALLAS, (4:07) with its most famous episode, was hidden in this fill.
13D. Rodgers and Hart title lyric that precedes "I get no dizzy spells" : THIS CAN'T BE LOVE (14). I tried really hard to find a connection between CSI and these LYRICS but I had no success; did I miss something?
20D. James Brown memoir : I FEEL GOOD (9). Did they ever sing any James Brown on GLEE? EPISODE 21 season 1.
29D. One way to lighten the mood : CRACK A JOKE.(10) Nice fill, with a J! Well Telly Savalas as KOJAK (0:46) with his lollipop was a fun cop show....
Across:
1. Fall follower? : THUD. Well this puzzle did not begin with a BLAM.
5. Ophidian menace : ASP. Somewhat obscure, as OPHIS is Greek for snake.
8. Brightness stats : IQS. Paired with, 46A. Hardly bright : DIM. Some intellectual elitism?
11. Arts supporters : PATRONS.
14. Frat letter : RHO.
15. Son of Akhenaten : TUT. The boy PHARAOH.
16. On the level : ETHICAL.
17. Battle of Khafji conflict : GULF WAR.
19. "Battle it out" quintet : AEIOU. Like facetious, a place to find the vowels in order, I guess.
20. Plasma particle : ION. Okay scientists, explain how plasma is a hot ionized gas consisting of approximately equal numbers of positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons.
21. Loafer's lack : LACE. The shoe, not your lazy neighbor.
22. Some audiobooks : CDS.
23. Pro shop supplies : SHAFTS. Golf clubs are made of many different materials, and having your clubs reshafted is not uncommon.
Now the question becomes is there a genteel way to ask our audience about whether they prefer stiff shafts...26. Opposite of bids : ASKS. This is from the stock markets, as well as any auction.
27. Kool-Aid alternative : HI-C. Well they are drinks, but one primarily in powder form, one in liquid...
28. "__ Eterno": 2004 sports documentary : PELE.
29. Boorish : CRASS.
30. Detergent with Oxi Booster : ERA. Three letters had to be FAB or...
31. Bone: Pref. : OSTEopath? Osteoarthritis?
32. "Seasons in the Sun" songwriter : BREL. This BELGIAN was popular when I was young.
33. Dot on an MTA map : STN.
34. "Love in the Time of __": García Márquez work : CHOLERA. This winner of the NOBEL PRIZE for Literature. I am afraid was not on my radar. This was a very hard fill, especially as it crosses three (3) of the five theme holding fill. In the end, it was I FEEL GOOD that put me on the right track.
36. ICU staffer : LPN. Licensed Practical Nurses can work in the Intensive Care Unit.
39. "Can't argue with that!" : TRUE.
41. Former car-financing org. : GMAC. General Motors Acceptance Corporation. This became ALLY during the bailout process of 2009.
42. It may come after you : ARE. You are here. Not following you.
43. Court attire : ROBES. Does the 21st century really need the judiciary in robes?
45. Rooting sound : OINK. Certainly true of Arkansas fans, but he meant 'rooting', not 'rooting'. This word has many meaning, and they use pigs to root out truffles; also perhaps KZ can confirm this word means 'shagging' in Oz. Depending on your partner, it may have more meaning.
47. "Agreed!" : AMEN.
48. Title girl in a 1965 #1 hit : RHONDA. I was in high school.
50. Sushi topper : ROE. Bear in mind that fish eggs, are also known as CAVIAR.
51. Mall draw : SALE.
52. Sci-fi suffix : OID. Interesting factoid about androids and humanoids who use steroids and become freakazoids....
53. Signs of dissatisfaction : JEERS.
57. "Missed your chance!" : TOO LATE.
59. Brief facilities? : LAVatories.
60. Zing : PEP.
61. Early Alaskans : ESKIMOS. Help me Rhonda? Opps wrong clue.
62. Memphis-to-Nashville dir. : ENE.
63. Year abroad : ANO.
64. Payroll deduction, perhaps : DUES. In the old days union dues were common deductions.
Down:
1. The Police, most of the time : TRIO. The Police not the police. I am sure if you would get this wrong, it would sting.
3. A, in Argentina : UNA. Can you imagine a puzzle with each of these USA, UMA, UTA, UNA, UPA, UVA, ULA, UCA, UFA, UGA, UBA, UEA as fill?
4. ISP option : DSL. Digital Subscriber Line.
5. Shoptalk : ARGOT. Meh, this is more specific a term meaning a special language.
6. Treats as persona non grata : SHUNS.
7. D.C. figure : POLitician. How cool that this is next to...
9. Charlatans : QUACKS.
10. Hardly gloss over : STRESS.
11. Still-life subject : PEACHES. Really?
12. Swallowed one's pride : ATE DIRT. Dirt is not the only four letter word that fits, but....
18. Roadside warning : FLARE.
24. Inclusive pronoun : HE/SHE. Are there any safe comments?
Now if we shave that Adam's apple, and put on lipstick- maybe.25. Quartet member : ALTO. I am confused because ALTO is for female voices with baritone, tenor and base for males not to mention soprano, contralto, mezzo-soprano, counter-baritone. So what quartet is this?
32. Word before or after name : BRAND. Brand name = name brand.
35. Key of Dvorák's "New World Symphony": Abbr. : E MINor.
37. Before : PRIOR TO.
38. They can't be beaten : NEMESES. An interesting plural.
40. Get Wired again : RENEW. The capital W lets you know this is referring to the magazine, Wired so it is a subscription that is being renewed.
43. Fight in the sticks : RASSLE.
44. Fred Astaire, by birth : OMAHAN. I am sure a fact known to our Nebraska contingent. HG?
48. President François Hollande's birthplace : ROUEN. Not to speak politics, but do many Americans know much about this socialite SOCIALIST?
49. Whale relative : HIPPO. Isn't SCIENCE grand!?!
54. Bulldog fans : ELIS. The mascot at Yale is the Bulldog, also at UGA.
56. Facial spot : SPA. Ha ha, not a Zit.
57. Brother of Jack and Bobby : TED. All gone now.
58. College Football Playoff champion crowned Jan. 12, 2015 : OSU. The Ohio State University. The third national championship for coach Urban Meyer.
Funny, yesterday we had 72 words and only 29 blocks with today having 74 words, 42 blocks (8 cheater squares), so many ways to build a grid. Anyway, while many of you may not get into this style, I really enjoyed this. It was good to have John back. Here comes March...Spring? Lemonade out
62 comments:
Morning, all!
Very challenging workout today, but a lot of fun and ultimately doable. I especially liked a lot of the cluing "Rooting sound" for OINK was my favorite).
Had trouble coming up with BREL and ROUEN as clued, but the perps eventually came to my rescue. Really wanted IT WAS ONLY A DREAM and even tried IT WAS A BAD DREAM before I finally got IT WAS ALL A DREAM. Also went with HANKYPANKY before HOCUSPOCUS. And, man -- did it ever take me a long time to figure out AEIOU!
I'll pick a nit and say that DSL is not really an ISP option, unless you want to say that it's an option (previously) offered by an ISP. But overall, I FEEL GOOD about the puzzle. No JEERS from me...
Whee! Not only did I finish this one without needing red letters, but I even figured out where all the circles belonged without being able to see them! The first was only 3 letters, so wasn't sure that was significant, but from left to right they progressed upwards: 3,4,4,5,6!
Owen I observed the progression as well and pondered if he had tried 34567
My solve was...put it in, take it out, only to put it back in.
Good morning!
Was feeling really stupid not being able to put the missing letter in IT WAS A _LA DREAM (_LAD REAM?). Fortunately, for me, the theme showed up and I saw it was DALLAS that needed to fit in the circles. Cute puzzle, John.
Lemon, I was not aware that Ally Bank was the reconstituted GMAC. I've got an account with them. Learning moment.
I got OMAHAN and the Ophidian ASP only from hangin' out in these here parts. We've had both recently.
I'm not a golfer, but over the years I have had several employers, so I know what it means to be reSHAFTed.
What the hell is HESHE? Never heard or seen and hope to never see it again.
This puzzle took too long to solve but this 'non-word' was my demise. It was a total PERP and WAG fest. I think I had TRIO, TUT, AEIOU, and GMAC on the first pass. I had to grind out the rest of it. I filled the SE first and worked my way up, which is fitting for this puzzle.
THIS CANT BE LOVE and Love int the Time of CHOLERA were complete unknowns, as was BREL. I knew Fred was from Omaha but OMAHAN just didn't sound right but RASSLE was easy and that gave me the theme. But I had already filled the downs.
Whew! After cruising the across clues for low-hanging fruit, I looked at the snow bank before me and thought "Who is this John Farmer and why does he hate me so?". A quick cruise through the downs was a little more productive and gave me enough toeholds to begin to weave my way to the "Tada". It was a long slog though, full of arcania (?) and wicked clues. I still don't understand the clue/fill for "Battle it out group". Anyone?
In the end, this was a very entertaining puzzle with several learning moments. I like that in a puzzle. Thank you John Farmer, and thank you Lemonade714 for an entertaining and informative expo.
Cya.
he/she is common. s/he is also used. Alas.
The "group" in "battle it out" are the vowels, in order.
Bluehen@8:17 -- "Battle it out" contains all 5 vowels in sequence, thus the quintet. Didn't blow my skirt up, either.
D N F !!!
When obvious answers aren't used, it is very hard to get on the constructor's wave-length.
For example, 27-a, Kool-Aid alternative, am I the only one who tried to get SCOTCH into the 3 spaces?
Then at 29-d, One way to lighten the mood, of course I put in DRINK BOOZE. Hey, It fit!
Too many other JEERS ... so I'll just wait until It's Five O'Clock Somewhere.
Cheers!
I struggled with this puzzle from start to finish, so I really appreciate the explanations provided here.
Tinbeni, you really define 'one-trick pony'.
Clever puzzle. Witty write up, Lemonade.
I worked bottom up so the reveal and circles were very helpful. My first theme answer was CRACK A JOKE.
I liked THUD.
I knew LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA.
Wiki says, "The term ARGOT is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, occupation, or hobby, in which sense it overlaps with jargon." hence shop talk. 20 or more years ago before I began using the computer regularly, the ARGOT around our Thanksgiving table (brothers, son, nephews) was all the language of computer nerds, fairly arcane to me.
Kool-Aid is okay by me. If someone offered me Kool-Aid I would expect a glass of prepared liquid, not a can of powder.
Hi gang -
I got on John's wavelength and still struggled. Sussing the theme gave me the perps I needed to finish, along with some swags. But this was really hard. Mostly great puzzle.
I'm amazed some of you got the theme without the circles.
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA sits on my shelf, unread.
I've played the New World Symphony a couple of timed PRIOR TO seeing this puzzle, but still had to get the key from perps.
I completely forgot this song. Here's Ella
A bit of BREL
Off to hear the high school music
competition.
Cool regards!
JzB
Hello Puzzlers -
It took a while to get a few anchors in, but once that was done, it was off to the races. The theme helped me figure out Glee, which at first I thought couldn't be right because it wasn't a cops & robbers show like the others. Then I realized Dallas wasn't, either.
I came to the same conclusion as Lemon, that Dallas was the probable theme seed entry. If it wasn't, then it was a good catch on John Farmer's part!
I played New World Symphony in high school, and the Cleveland orchestra version is still my favorite CD. However, I had no idea what minor key it was, or even whether all four movements were in the same key.
It's a bright clear day today, but even so we can't break out of the 20's.
Very obscure clueing...
Peaches?
Answer Man
If HE/SHE is common then I think HE-SHE-IT will be the next 'inclusive' pronoun. It is just not one word just as either/or or and/or are not ONE word. For ATE DIRT, I initially wrote ATE CROW but was also thinking along with Lemonade on that one.
Challenging puzzle but no nits to pick with the cluing. I'm glad I didn't have the theme name and then try to figure it out - I did it without knowing anything about the clue.
Biggest compliant - thanks for the earworm. I'll be hearing "Seasons In The Sun" all day now. Bummer.
Jeesh! It must be Saturday! But, alas, it's not. How 'bout them vowels? I love being caught like that when the answer is right before my eyes, and I still can't see it. Makes me think and realize I have a lot to learn, which is a good thing--otherwise why wake up tomorrow? Thanks, John.
Nice run through, Lemonade. I had to leave for a couple of hours, and when I returned, Tah Dah! That's happens to me a lot on Friday and Saturday. Not to mention, I heard SHUNS on the car radio. I came back with a new eye (and a can of V-8). Still hoping for that Lion to show up on Sunday so we can be done with this winter.
Thank you John and Lemon.
I was all ready to come here and crack a joke about how I ended up with CHOLERA for 'Love in the Time of." Seems the joke is on me and I have another book to add to my wheelbarrow.
Curiously, I completed the puzzle from East to West with PEACHES one of the last to fall. Not too fond of the lack of symmetry with the placement of the circles, but I'm so pleased about completing a Friday in its entirety that it's easily forgivable.
I have applied for 11 jobs so far this week. Unemployment benefits dry up in one month. Something has gotta crack soon.
Good morning everyone.
Lemon - Good intro for a tough hard-to-follow puzzle.
Got most of the E ok but went hard aground in the NW. Never did suss the circles. Did not get PEACHES for still life. Usually think of 'fruit'.
Today's learning was 49d - HIPPO. Always thought hippos were related to porcines because of their cloven hooves, but Wiki set me straight.
Did not know 48d, but with the 'u' in the middle eventually got ROUEN.
Mixed bag of enjoyment but I guess it was good for training purposes.
Hoping that HG has a good result from his surgery.
Enjoy the day.
Often we don't know the gender of the subject, which can be awkward. He/she serves the purpose. I'm surprised that the English language has not developed a a gender neutral singular pronoun like THEY. On the other hand, sometimes it would be nice to have a gender specific plural pronoun, instead of THEY.
He/she/it will not fly. Almost always we know whether the subject is animate or inanimate, so that formulation leads to unnecessary lack of clarity.
Good Morning:
I finished w/o help, but w/o a whole lot of enjoyment. I'll defer to Thumper.
Informative summary, as always, Lemony.
Ergo, I hope you get some good news soon! 😉
Have a good day.
Renoir’s Still Life with Peaches
Link Behold
After the first pass, there was a lot of white! But with some WAG's and perps, was able to suss it out. Got the theme early on, as I saw GLEE going up. Just a matter of time to get the others.
Thanks, John, for a challenging puzzle, and nice write-up, Lemonade.
Hello, word wizards!
Not much time to comment as I have much to do today. Suffice it to say that it was a slow slog but eventually it came together and I did see the SHOWS inside the circles. Very clever, Mr. Farmer!
Still don't understand AEIOU as "battle it out" quintet.
Since Alaskans were originally called ESKIMOS, it's an undisputed fact and not subject to PC quibbling.
Have a wonderful Friday, everyone!
Lemonade, your comment on 24d was at best 29a and at worst unfeeling leaning toward bigoted.
Good afternoon everyone.
A belated (because I log on in late evening) best wishes to Husker Gary and Yellowrocks.
Don't even try on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Do the other easy puzzle in the Naples News instead.
Cheers
Rest in Peace, Mr. Spock.
Last night a coyote apparently got our sweet black and tan dachshund Misty (for whom I am named). It was dark and we heard only a loud squeal on our patio, rushed out and saw nothing, and then a horrendous dog scream and tussle down the dark hill, and our sweet Misty was gone. She was almost 12 and we picked her and Dusty from a litter when they were only a couple weeks old. Since Dusty has never spent a night alone, he whined and cried all night and I've had only 3 hours of sleep.
So not much luck with the puzzle this morning. I'll try to be more cheerful on Monday.
Lucina@11:21 "Still don't understand AEIOU as "battle it out" quintet."
bAttlE It OUt. The five vowels (a quintet) are all present and in alphabetical order.
Dang! Spock returns to Vulcan and local TV personality Don Nelson retires -- both on the same day. What can be next? Homeland Security running out of money?
Misty, sorry to hear about your Doxie. We went through the same thing a couple of months ago when Augie, a striped tabby, got nailed by a coyote. He survived the attack, but we had to euthanize him. Did I read that correctly? You are called Misty after the dog?
Todays's solve was a bear! The circled answers I knew were TV shows, that's about ALL I was confident about. I applaud those of you who can complete this without problems.
Very sad about the death of "Mr. Spock". One of my very favorite actors of all time. RIP..
Nothing more to add. Enjoy and have a "prosperous" day.
Got a real ass-whupping today, so thanks for the mental gymnastics, John, and the expo, Lemon. Got there in the end, but sloooowwwwly.
Desper-Otto - you could have had "IT WAS AN LA DREAM" to describe the experience of many failed Hollywood hopefuls out here :)
Just realized. Unintentional as it may be, the circled letters to 2D, read from the top, are SPOC. How eerily fitting.
Leonard Nimoy on to the next adventure.
Thank you for Spock and all your words.
I agree do not smoke.
My goodness, how sad that you also lost Augie to a coyote, Desper-otto. Yes, my name is Margot, but I took Misty as my blog name in honor of my sweet doxie Misty.
He/she is not a word. Plus there is a slash. Clue should say "inclusive pronoun __/___ " or similar.
Whew! Hard puzzle!
Managed this one with only one look-up. It was tough, fair, and fun. I forgot to look for the theme in the circled letters, and didn't give a real thought to it until reading Lemonade's write-up.
Well reasoned, Lemon! Always a pleasure to read you.
As an old Eli myself, I am always a bit thrown when I see Elihu's nickname in pzls. It's a popular shorthand, but I don't think I heard anyone called that in my years in New Haven. "Yalie" is the usual epithet. And this fellow's name is Dan, not Eli.
He/she is awkward, as is his/her. Still, I prefer these to the practice of using "their" as a possessive meant to disguise the gender of a single person.
In writing, I prefer s/he, but you can't pronounce that slash in speech, hence the need to use he/she in conversation.
One never hears or sees h/iser.
Do one?
Misty, So sorry to hear about your Doxie. We have Coyotes here in our area, too. They are becoming more and more brave and come into the urban areas.
OMK: "hence the need to use he/she in conversation."
In conversation I think "he or she" (or "she or he") would be preferable.
In any event, I certainly hope you don't pronounce the word "slash".
I thought Pres. Hollande' was prez of Holland. If he wanted to be prez of France, he should have changed his name to France'. Or DeFrance'.
Its all very confusing - what next ? Chancellor Amerika of Germany ?
As for the puzzle, to those who 'got' it, unaided, feel smug for the next half hour, and then get on with your life. ;->>)
Hi everybody. This was an appropriately hard, tricky, clever for a Friday. I needed a little help in a couple of places. SHAFTS didn't come easily. Neither did ROUEN or CHOLERA (the book). I was frustrated that I didn't tumble to AEIOU but John got me. Thanks John and Lemon.
Misty, I'm sure sorry about your dog.
Yellowrocks
You're are supposed to pronounce he/she/it real fast. I think that one went over your head. It's a joke.
When I was in 3rd or 4th great we did conjugate verbs in class and I did go to quickly with the he/she/it
Little people find that word soooooooooooooo funny
Hi all!
Whew! John gave us a doable (for me) Friday. I almost TITT but I have the afternoon off, so what the heck.
My middle is a sea of ink. I won't get into the details, but suffice to say, oboes are not in this quintet. Thanks for the writeup Lem.
The theme helped a ton in getting both 2 & 20d.
I have no idea how I knew HIPPO, but it gave me RHONDA and the rest of W. TX.
Fav c/a: 59a. I almost put LAw in, but waited. Funny. I liked 1a too, but in deference to YR... (how you doing? BTW, I wouldn't drink the Kool-Aid :-))
Re 32a: I loved that song when I was 4; much later in life I figured out what it meant. In addition to Terry Jack, Kurt Cobain covered it too.
Misty - so, so sorry to hear about Misty...
Tin: LOL re: Drink Booze...
Today ('91) marks the ending of the GULF WAR. I was so happy days later to see all the blood we shipped come back.
:-( Spock. \\.///
Cheers, -T
Great people think alike, and go through the 3rd and 4th 'greats'.
;->)
They also don't drink Hi-C and Kool Ade - when the real thing is at hand.
Big Easy, Duh! LOL. Now I get it. She/he/it would be easier to parse than he/she/it..
Misty and DO, so sad about your pets. How terrible! My condolences.
Gary, my thoughts are with you today. I wish you a speedy recovery and good results.
I now have the scoop on my procedure:
1. Easy peasy, small incision, a few inner stitches, one night stay in hospital;, rapid return to where I was before the fall.
2. More aggressive, attach the tendon to the knee cap, two night stay, 2-3 week return to where I was, solid knee brace allowing walking but no driving for 2-3 weeks. That no driving is the killer. I have to buy 3 weeks worth of groceries tonight.
Coincidence? Look at the first item in 11 Things We Didn't Know Last Week.
Anon-T - this is not Lucina, but with my rudimentary Spanish and lil bit of common sense -
The critical, decisive words in the passage are ' ....no accepta mi dinero ..' which means I don't charge ( for my services - ).
Whatever the rest of it reads, HIRE HER !! ( or whatever).
I'm very sorry to hear about your losses Misty and D Otto. My condolences.
Misty and D-O:
How very sad about your pets. My condolences. Coyotes have become a serious problem here, too, as the city encroaches upon the desert.
When I was teaching high school seniors, I used s/he on stuff I produced. In writing I asked them to choose a third person pronoun and stick with it--he OR she--not he/she.
Often I would welcome the class with "Okay, gals, today we are going to. . . ." The boys would go nuts. My question: Why is "guys" OK then if 50% of the class are "gals." Live with it! ;-)
Misty, sorry about your pup. :(
Thank you for all the kind condolences, everybody! I really appreciate them on this sad day.
Greetings!
A real toughie for me, John. Thanks Lemon.
No circles. A DNF. Darn.
Sorry Misty and d-otto.
Guess I was really tired when I tried to work this at 1:30 AM. Slept for 11 hours. Then had a good swim.
Cheers!
Bananas can be SO scary!
Bill G., as always when I check in late, I am sure to find a hilarious video of cats doing stupid things. But I know...bananas are scary!!!
(You should see my cats with grapes!!!)
Marti, I'm glad you liked it. Here another one that makes me feel good in a different way.
I just found this video. I'm a sucker for stories like this one. A special basketball game
Answer Man:
Thank you!
YAA-T@3:51:
I deleted my post after Argyle deleted the phish. I caught on with a few key words and suddenly saw an unETHICAL recipe for fraud :-) My Spanish (my only D in HS) is worse than my English - my 1st-ish language; I dream in code....
Bill G. I guess cat's aren't monkeys. Funny clip. Thanks.
Also, thanks to all who 'splain'd 19a. I was thinking AEIOU was some Swedish band I didn't know.
Cheers, -T
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